Category Archives: Library Spotlight

Has an ebook disappeared on you?

Looking for an ebook you used recently but that seems to have vanished? Let us know right away; we can probably get it back. Our major ebook program is undergoing some changes due to soaring costs and increasing publisher restrictions on usage. A large number of titles will disappear from our catalog this week. The process is designed to leave available anything that’s been used recently, but because of behind-the-scenes technical work, there’s a lag between the vendor’s most recent usage reports and the actual catalog-record deletion. As a result, you may have used a title in the last two weeks and now can’t find it again. Just ask us to recover it, and if our supplier still has it available, we will!

We also added a new collection recently, with more than 140,000 ebooks from EBSCO. Check it out!

This way to the Unplug and Recharge Room

Follow the arrows, and find some time for yourself! Take a break from your studies for just one – quiet – moment. You’ll feel refreshed, we promise.

Photo of Unplug and Recharge Room

Just follow the arrow

The Unplug and Recharge Room will be available through November on the Upper Level of the Davis Family Library, but you may borrow meditation cushions all year long from the circulation desks at the Davis Family Library and the Armstrong Library.

Self-Service Reservations for Group Studies and Video Viewing Rooms

Yes, YOU can book this room

Now available at the Davis Family Library for Middlebury students, faculty and staff!  Make your own reservations for group studies and video viewing rooms. It’s easy to see pre-existing reservations, pick a time, and even cancel if necessary — all online.

View policies and make reservations at:

(The group studies on the upper level of the Davis Family Library remain available on a first-come, first-served basis.)

Self-service room scheduling is available as a pilot through January 2017. Please share your feedback: http://go.middlebury.edu/libsuggestions.

Clifford Symposium at the Library – through October

Clifford Symposium at the LibraryThe libraries are pleased to support the Art and Science of Mindful Engagement during the  Clifford Symposium and beyond. Dip into a few recommended books on display, let a podcast walk you through a guided meditation, and disconnect from daily stressors in the Unplug and Recharge Room. (Or, borrow meditation cushions from the Circulation Desk and use them anywhere in the library!)

All will be available during regular library hours now through mid-October.

Library Book Display (Davis Family Library): Recommendations from faculty, students, and staff for mindfulness and meditation readings. Browse and borrow whatever you like! Located on the main level of the Davis Family Library.

Guided Meditation Station (Davis Family Library): Pick a blue chair, put on the headphones, and hit “play.” A professional will walk you through a short guided meditation exercise. Try it and see how you feel afterward! Located on the main level of the Davis Family Library.

Unplug and Recharge Room (Davis Family Library): Take a break and disconnect from daily stressors. A secluded corner of the library will be screened off to create a temporary Unplug and Recharge Room with meditation cushions and soft lighting. Located on the upper level of the Davis Family Library.

Meditation Cushions  (Davis Family Library and Armstrong Library): Thanks to the Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life, we are able to offer loaner meditation cushions for the whole school year. Check them out from the Circulation Desk, and use them anywhere in the library for 2 hours.

Library hours at http://go.middlebury.edu/hours.

BrowZine trial, take two (Trial ends Nov. 6)

We trialed BrowZine in mid-summer and got some good response, but since then they’ve enabled a Web-based version which we think will be useful to more of our community, so we’re trialing it again.BrowZine_Snip

BrowZine is a unique product that “knows” Middlebury’s journal subscriptions and allows you to browse or search our journals in a visually interesting and convenient interface. BrowZine2

On mobile devices (and soon in the web version),  you can create your own shelf of journals, on which new issues will appear as soon as they are published. BrowZineShelf

It’s modeled after the experience of browsing the periodical shelves in the library, but it’s on your mobile device. There are many more features, too.

We would really like to get some feedback from all parts of our user community this time – staff, faculty, and students! Try out BrowZine – the web version, or download the app – and let us know what you think: email eaccess-admin@middlebury.edu or contact your liaison.

ForeignPolicy.com (trial ends Oct. 19, 2015)

All members of the Middlebury College community will have full access to Foreign Policy for the next 30 days. FP

In addition to articles published in Foreign Policy magazine, this includes:

  • direct, seamless access to all content on foreignpolicy.com, which is added to many times per day and covers all regions of the world,
  • Advanced search capabilities,
  • All content from daily alerts,
  • Full archive of the magazine back to 2010, and coming soon, a 45-year archive.

Let us know what you think – email eaccess-admin@middlebury.edu or contact your liaison.

Ancestry Library Edition (Trial ends Oct. 21, 2015)

For the next thirty days, the Middlebury College community has free access to Ancestry Library Edition – the library’s version of ancestry.com. AncestrySearch census records; birth, marriage, and death records; city directories, and much more.

Let us know what you think – email eaccess-admin@middlebury.edu or contact your liaison.

Scrivener: Software for Writers Workshop

Write Your Thesis with Scrivener
Library Workshop
Wednesday, April 29th
4:30-5:30pm
Register

library workshopAre you working on a large writing project? Scrivener can help! Scrivener is a software program that breaks down your writing into manageable “chunks,” and brings your research and writing together into a single conceptual workspace.

The library will offer a Scrivener workshop on April 29th at 4:30p.m. Participants will learn how to create a new writing project, how to import existing work, and how to outline, research, and write with Scrivener’s unique features. This workshop is aimed at thesis writers but is open to all members of the College community. For more information on Scrivener and to sign up for the workshop, visit go.middlebury.edu/scrivener.

Welcome (Back) to the Library!

Whether you’re new to campus or returning from summer break, we invite you to take advantage of all the library has to offer. Here are 5 things you won’t want to miss:

Many thanks to our talented Digital Media Tutors Maggie, Emily and Denisse, who created this video and others as a summer project!

More tips for the new semester:  Midd Libraries Quick Guide [go/quicklib]


Spoiler alert! The 5 quick tips include:
1. The Circulation Desk is where you’ll check out all of your library materials, including CDs, equipment and interlibrary loans.
2. Library collections include not only books but also DVDs, graphic novels in the Browsing section, dictionaries in the Reference section, manuscripts downstairs in Special Collections, and magazines in the Harman Periodicals Area.
3. Librarians can help you in person at the Research Desk and online via the library web site at  http://go.middlebury.edu/lib.
4. Technology and media assistance is available at the Tech Help Desk and the Wilson Media Lab.
5. Peer Writing Tutors are ready to meet with you at the Center for Teaching, Learning and Research (CTLR).
BONUS! The library has all kinds of study spaces, from the Wilson Cafe at the entrance of the building, to senior thesis carrels tucked away on the upper levels.

100th Flanders Collection Cylinder Milestone!

The Northeast Document Conservation Center reports  that they’ve recorded one hundred of the two hundred and fifty cylinders in the Flanders Ballad Collection.  Quite a milestone!  See the recording system at work and listen to the hundredth cylinder in the NEDCC blog post here!  Take a look at some of the previous posts to learn more about this new sound scanning technology.

Irene Blog